Jariel  Once Upon a Sea Turtle
by flabospikyy
Summary: "You, however, are a very unlucky woman. Or merwoman, whichever you'd prefer."  Her fingers twirled around locks of her red hair, a smile dancing on her lips at his compliments, as he fished them out one by one with light humor, quirking his eyebrows. JxA
1. Naked Lady on a Rock

"You, however, are a very unlucky woman. Or merwoman, whichever you'd prefer."

She giggled, her hand waving him off, as she perched on the side of the wooden plank, her green tail lightly swaying side to side, like the tail of a cat. Her fingers twirled around locks of her red hair, a smile dancing on her lips at his compliments, as he fished them out one by one with light humor, the quirk of his eyebrows and the glint of his bottle adding to his charismatic charm. "Mermaid," she told him. "I'm Ariel."

Paring:. Ariel x CaptainJackSparrow

Shipping Name:. Jariel

* * *

It had all begun on a lightly sea-misted day. Captain had begun scouring the deck, his bottle in hand, his eyebrows furrowed as he stumbled lightly, evidently confused as he held a hand above his head, to shield his eyes from the sun.

"You all know nothing about the sea temples," he said, to apparently no one.

"Capt'n?" It was Gibbs, who had raised up from his crouched position beneath the masses, ropes in a circle in front of his knees, dirt smudged above his eyebrows as he looked at his Captain, who was now testing the wind with his finger, sticking it in and out of his mouth, repeatedly.

He paused, and then looked over at Gibbs. "_Atlantica_, mate," he said, swinging his bottle with a flourish of his hand, a movement in sync with his hips. He twirled, lightly, his hands spread out as he motioned towards the sea, gripping onto a rope, tittering slightly, as he crawled his way up onto the side of the boat. "You see, all over the earth people have come, looking for this legendary place—" he turned, lounging back against the ropes, raising his bottle as if in a toast—"but to no avail, never finding it." He took a swig, his eyes rolling, before continuing. He motioned towards Gibb, his voice lowering, charmingly. "All you and me have to do is _find_ it, and then—then nothing but the sea is the limit. All this earth, ours to explore, with the aid of the _trident._" He said this word, trident, with his eyes widening, his arms spreading out, his head rolling on his shoulders, as he glanced back over at the side of the boat and grinned.

"Beg pardon, capt'n," Gibbs interrupted, his left eye squinting, "but, uh.. how are you going to go about _findin' _Atlantica, if none be found it yet?"

Captain nodded towards him, an exaggerated dip of his head as his lips twitched, his pupils huge. He wagged his finger, taking another swig.

"That—that be a very good question, Mr. Gibbs," he paused, before glancing over at the sea.

"Look!" He ordered, taking a step up onto the actual side of the boat, arms spread out for balance, as he walked across it, tittering, towards the other end, talking along on the way.

"If none be found it yet, then it is still there left to find," he turned, leaning up against the ropes on the other mass. "And if it is still there left to find, than all we need do is find where we haven't looked, and look there to find it, since it obviously hasn't been found yet," Gibb's eyebrows scrunched even tighter, confused.

Captain's eyes widened again, and he took another drink, staggering down the side of the mass. Turning, he looked towards the ocean.

"Oi, there!" He called out, loudly, waving towards the ocean, his voice echoing his 'oi there,' again and again, over and over, far off into the distance.

"If you needn't be found yet, do not worry! We shall find you soon enough!" He laughed, taking another drink off bottle, before continuing, his arms swaying in front of him, like he was about to explain some sort of point. "And _when_ we have found you, there will be plenty of time for celebrations later, since you will have been found, and there for, no longer _unfound._ For I, Captain Jack Sparrow, am ruler of the sea, and the black pearl, and treasure is what I also rule, just not at this present point in time."

The guy with the wooden eye, and his short friend, whose idea it was to mop the boat, both watched and stared as Captain shouted off into the distant, talking to absolutely no one.

"I think Captain has been acting a bit strange," said the wooden eyed man, watching as said Captain staggered, almost falling of the boat, obviously too intoxicated by his rum to be walking around safely on the sides of a swaying ship, far above the sea water.

The short one gave him a look, his eyes saying it all. "Strang_er._" He corrected, obviously irritated.

The other one nodded. "Captain has always been a bit strange," he says, as if he's known him for a long, long time. "It's one of his redeeming qualities."

The short one rolls his eyes at this. "And what would you know about redeeming qualities?" He asks this like a rhetorical question, obviously not wanting, expecting, or asking for an answer.

The other one doesn't know this, though. He pauses, for a moment, before saying, "Enough to know that you ain't got none."

The short one hit him on the head with his mop, a thick 'whack' sounding.

"Ow. That hurt." He complained, rubbing his head where he'd been hit. "I think that's gun'a bruise."

"It was _supposed_ to hurt, you mongrel."

Suddenly, the shortest man of all shouted, very loudly, "Naked lady in the water!"

Every head on the ship snapped towards him, who was waving out towards the water. Gibb stumbled towards Captain, his fingers on the rope he'd been messing with early, his heart pounding.

"Orders, Capt'n?" Captain Jack Sparrow, eyes narrowed, paused for a moment, before saying, "Get me my telescope."

Almost immediately, the crew sprang into action.

"Get Capt'n Jack's telescope!" One bellowed, his hand waving as one of the men bustled down into Capt'n Jack's study. Seconds later, he returned, empty-handed. "It ain't ha're!" He shouted, his hands spread out in front of him. Captain Jack Sparrow jumped to the rescue.

"It's all right!" He said, waving. "I'll just swim." He turned, standing up on the side of the boat, his hands positioned to form that of a dive.

"Cap't!" Gibbs shouted, alarmed, but it was too late. A splash filled the air, and his form disappeared from view. Every personage on the boat ran to the side, and leaned over to see better. His head popped to the surface of the water a moment later, well-guided arm strokes as he swam towards the half-naked lady, who was perched on a rock, staring at them all curiously. Of course, Captain Jack was drunk, so it took a lot of effort to figure out which direction to swim in, let all alone how to swim at all. For the first few minutes, he did nothing but swim around in circles, before going back the wrong way. Someone had to shout out to him that he was, in fact, swimming back towards the boat, the opposite direction of the maiden. Of course, Jack is Jack, and very unconvincingly said, "I meant to do that."

No one commented.

"Fear not, young maiden," he called, over the large waves rolling towards him. "I will save thee!" He approached the rock, and crawled upon it, dropping for a moment to catch his breathe. He smiled up at her, his eyes instantly landing on her torso, which wasn't naked, but clad in purple seashells. A grin spread across his face, his fingers flexing, his eyes glued to her rather enormous, large breasts, which were so very lightly covered, bunched up like a package of coconuts on display for his enjoyment. He couldn't wipe the smile of his cheeks.

"Would you like to come aboard my ship?" He asked her, his eyes flickering towards his pearl. Ariel knew she was never to be spotted by humans, much less converse with them, but having been secretly watching the dashing young pirate for quite a while, the chance of talking to him was proving rather difficult to resist. After all, she was running away from home. Her kingdom no longer respected her, after publicly disgracing her father by refusing to marry that ugly merman.

She had her sights set on the lovely Captain Jack Sparrow anyway, so the idea of marrying someone else was rather ridiculous. The dream of running away and falling madly in love had lasted throughout her entire childhood, and now, the man she had recently found and grown to admire, was currently within her reach. Soon, her fins would disappear anyway – three days, to be exact. Ursula's magic potion would finally take effect by then. She'd traded part of her youth, her life to gain the ability to become human. And if he were to marry her, she would be allowed to stay human. If not, for everyday that they were not married, after she gained human feet, a year of her life would be stripped away and given to Ursula.

The ending of the first day was approaching near, and whatever head start she could get was what currently mattered the most. After all, the years she would get to spend with him, happily ever after, depended upon a quick marriage. She smiled at him, her red hair spinning in the wind. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well," she said, her beautiful blue eyes staring deep into his brown. She wanted to stroke his face, to feel the greasy, dirt-covered surface of his cheeks, to stroke his hair lovingly, to kiss him. It was an odd desire, for she had certainly never felt such a desire for anyone of her own kind. But, then again, she had always known she'd be destined for humanity, so why not her love, as well? She smiled, her eye lashes fluttering, as she accepted his hand, a faint blush creeping across her cheeks as his golden teeth gleamed at her, dirty and partially black.

Her childhood fantasy of being a young maiden on a ship was about to become true. All she had to do was win the heart of this striking, young, greasy pirate!

* * *

I started writing this the other day. I actually liked it, so I figured I post it up and see what other people thought. I plan on continuing, so subscribe if you like!


	2. Bad Omen

"You, however, are a very unlucky woman. Or merwoman, whichever you'd prefer."

She giggled, her hand waving him off, as she perched on the side of the wooden plank, her green tail lightly swaying side to side, like the tail of a cat. Her fingers twirled around locks of her red hair, a smile dancing on her lips at his compliments, as he fished them out, one by one, with light humor; the quirk of his eyebrows and the glint of his bottle added to his charismatic charm, or so she believed. "_Mermaid_," she told him. "I'm Ariel."

"Ariel.." he repeated, grinning, his voice rolling the r as he trailed off. He let one long finger stroke his beard, while he turned the name around slowly in his head; his other hand, index finger extended, traced subtle patterns on the scales on her tail.

It appeared things were beginning to work on the bright side.

"Well, mademoiselle," he said, playfully, "It looks to be that, even though your father cared for you, he has all but abandoned you to live out the cruel fate of being a mermaid, alone.." He paused, a twinkle in his eye. "..and we know that, in this bitter world, none should leave a woman alone …or unattended.. so, I, being the gentleman that I am, have no other choice, morally, but to offer you my assistance." He leaned in, lightly blowing a small 'puff' of air in her ear.

"..so.." he whispered, softly, his breath against her neck. A shiver ran down her spine as her heart skipped a beat. "What say you, madam? Care to board upon the The Black Pearl with me? With _Captain Jack Sparrow?_"

She looked down, a flush beginning to appear across the surface of her cheeks. She couldn't look him in the eye; she found herself fingering the leather on his belt, the stiff material proving mesmerizing to the surface of her baby-soft skin. It was so rough in comparison, so…different.

Just like him.

Her lips upturned slightly at the thought; Jack Sparrow eyed the curve of her lips, in the corners, curiously. She was such a quiet girl; even the most flirtatious of his movements would receive only the occasional word, if any at all.

He found himself wondering about her, his curiosity probed. Like the cube of a small puzzle, he found himself trying to figure her out.

He didn't know why, but she interested him. Not only because she knew, most likely, of the trident, but because everything she did seem to be so.. unreal.

Then again, being a mermaid was fairly unreal.

He smiled at her, more of a smirk than anything else.

"Well?" He inquired, his eyebrow raising.

"I… think I would like that, very much."

He smiled down at her, finding his arm naturally giving her a light squeeze. The feel of her cool body, compressed into his chest, the skin, the plush, the _body, _was almost comforting. He wanted to hug her a little more.

He released her, though, after but a short moment.

He trailed his finger down her slippery fin.

"We need to find you a cabin, then." He stood, about to offer his hand to her, when he realized something. He stopped.

"-They ll be gone within a day or two," she interrupted, quickly. "I just need to wait until then.." she paused, hesitantly, looking down at the water beneath her. "That is, if you want to wait that long.. for me.." She chewed her lip, quietly, watching as a silence spread between them. It was a quiet fpr a few moments, neither of them speaking.

Finally, he said, "Of course. Of course I ll wait for you. I just need to anchor us in, until then." Something flicked on inside his head.

"Mr. Gibbs!" He shouted, setting his bottle down.

"Cap'tn." Mr. Gibbs breathed, rushing to a halt, in front of him.

"Mr. Gibbs.. it has come to my attention that the sun is looking quite dark. Is that not a bad omen for sea travel?"

Mr. Gibbs looked confused. "Bad omen?" He repeated. "But, Cap'tn, the sun sets everyday, there's no bad ome—"

"Mr. Gibbs," he interrupted. "Is that not a bad omen?"

Mr. Gibbs hesitated, his eyes darting between the fish and his Captain. Did he want her to stay? Or was this some sort of test?

"..er, yes, Cap'tn," he said, finally, hesitating. "Yes, the… _darkening of the sun_ is a sign of.. er, bad travel.." He shifted, sparing a glance at the Cap'tn's face.

"Well, then," he said. "Alert the rest of the crew. We will be staying her for the rest of today and tomorrow. Or tomorrow and today. Or tomorrow's today and yesterday's tomorrow." He paused, before adding, "Whichever you prefer."

Gibbs still looked confused, but agreed, nonetheless.

"Of course, Cap'tn Jack." He said. "I'll get right on that."

Captain Jack nodded. "Good man."

He turned back to the redheaded beauty, eying him curiously. "Well, then, Madam Ariel, will you be staying upon the ship, or sleeping soundly in the waters?"

Her thoughts were on the water, and what was in it. Sharks weren't uncommon. In the middle of Atlantica, nobody really had to worry about them, much, because King Trident always protected everyone. The sharks didn't venture around the great King's city.

But out in the open, in the middle of nowhere, there would be plenty of them. And she didn't have any way of protecting herself against them.

"Well.. " she began, her eyes flicking towards the waters. "Perhaps I _should_ stay here; there aren't any rocks or grottos to hide in if sharks were to come.. so.."

Captain paused, his eyes drifting towards an empty rum barrel. He briefly imagined her in it, the barrel filled with water. It would keep her wet, at least, he decided.

* * *

**Last chapter I used an overkill of commas; this chapter I over used 'he' and 'she' at the beginning of practically every sentence. **

**And in case you didn't already notice, I misspelled a few things last chapter, as well; even managed to use different variations of punctuating _Captain_ in slang. (You know, with the apostrophes)**

**It's killing me not to go back and correct them. And I _should _correct the mistakes in this chapter. But tomorrow, NaNoWriMon starts, and me, being the lazy person I am, need to finish writing the outline and stop worrying about getting a monthly update of this story out. (stress doesn't only kill the cockroaches, you know)**

**I didn't want to spam your emails with updates of old chapters, so I didn't. **

**Personal thanks to _experiment12967 _and _Lsughing Man_ for reviewing and also to those who favorited/added me to their alerts list; you all flatter me.**

**And yes - this author's note needs badly to be reformatted; I'm jumping around with one unconnected thought to another. But again, I'm lazy. Maybe I'll get better at being less-lazy by next chapter.  
**


	3. LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE

**THE NEXT UPDATE WILL BE REPLACING THIS CHAPTER.**

(I put that there so those who just click the 'x' button after realizing this isn't a chapter update will hopefully see that and not miss the next chapter update.)

Now, I'm going to get to the point:

When I started this story, I never thought I'd have as many readers/fans as I have now. What started as writing exercise to help me get out of my OCD writing problems hasn't worked, and now I want to give you a _good_ story. So I've delayed in posting chapters because of that.

But that's not the main reason, and if you read this, please don't think my elevator has jammed and stopped reaching the top floor:

I have never heard voices in my head. Ever. But Ariel the Little Mermaid is _pissed_ at me.

She says I haven't been writing her realistically. She's given me a whole list of reasons why, and while I won't list all of them, here are a few:

**1.** She would never, _ever_ think beards are sexy. (And even if she did, she would not stroke it)

**2.** She wants to know where Flounder is. When I told her I offed him, she got mad. She demands he come back. She wants to keep him in a bucket on the boat.

**3.** She says she'd never fall in love with someone who has bad hygiene. She wants Will instead.( **-** **never saw that one coming**)

**4.** She'd slap Jack if he traced circles on her tail. She says I've allowed her to be tail-raped, and that it's all my fault if she dies before the end of the story. ( **-** see that? she's threatening me with _suicide_.)

**5.** She wants to know where her _feisty_ side is; she wants to be an optimistic, clueless, and an adventurous sixteen year old, not some blushing, quiet girl who bats her eyelashes or starts dying for some random pirate that she's been apparently "stalking." [her words, not mine]

So I'm in conflict about what to do. I rented Ariel's Beginning off netflix to try and 'get' her better, but that movie left me sick to my stomach. That's BS animation compared to the original, and even Ariel agrees. So I rewatched the original, and she wants her personality to be drawn from that.

Captain's conflicts:

**1.** "I"m not courageous enough. And you've got my motivation quite wrong; remember that lovely book about me, mate? _That's _my history, love. That's the reason why I am.. the way I am. And the thing is, love, if you're going to be portraying people in a story, you have to go about doing it the right way. Otherwise, a sixteen year old virgin who can't drink on _my_ ship-the Black Pearl-might not come out being so.. _level headed_. i Not that I'm complaining; I mean, her chest is rather larger than Elizabeths, and I find that quite nice when compared to.." -that's enough, Jack; that's enough.

**...ANYWAY. **

I am in final's month. When summer comes, I should be updating at least once a week. I plan to do so every Thursday, and then finish this story before the end (of summer, so sometime during July or August).

I will mention something, though: May 17th, 2011, a story containing the history of _Captain _Jack Sparrow is supposed to be released. I have no idea how, but I managed to find this online and read it before I knew that it wasn't supposed to be up and that it was, in fact, "leaked" material hosted online over _a month and a half early of the official release. _I know the **real** history of Captain Jack Sparrow, and I must say.. it is rather amazing. What I read has given me an entirely different-well, okay, not much; I knew he was a "good man" to begin with-perspective on Captain Jack. I need to incorporate this into my story. I **want** to. And now, more than ever, I want to **update update update. **So I probably will be in the next week or two. I hate that I haven't updated in so long, but while I know this may be painful to hear, I must say that I'm _happy_ I haven't. Otherwise, the next chapter would have Captain Jack's character all wrong. I think you'll be much happier with the results once they're in.

NOW, onto the **last section of importance:**

I have received a couple reviews from people, one asking where Elizabeth was and whether or not I planned to incorporate the rest of the "gang" into this story. Another reviewer told me that a mermaid lives to be on average 300 years old, and that I actually have a long amount of time I could use before Ariel dies of old age. [not that she will be. Though, it would be kinda funny to watch Jack and Ariel converse about why she's getting so old. (sorry, this is my arielhatehateariel mood snooping in; she's been such a pest these last few months.. I know I deserve it, but really, could she tone down the drama? Kinda hard to write an essay when a mermaid is complaining inside your head)]

I wasn't planning on that coming up, but it proposes an interesting alternative direction this story could take, though I really would like to know what you'd prefer, since I'm now writing this story for **you. **

How is **17-21** chapters length? Would you want a sequel? Or would you like the idea of one long-ass story, with maybe 42 chapters with long word counts? Or would you prefer short chapters, but a longer over-all chapter length? (I might be able to update more frequently if you go the short route, but it might depend upon the way the plots heading. Longer might actually be easier consider I apparently am impaired when it comes to length) I was planning on just posting the story and not asking questions on the reader's advice or posting author's notes, but this really has been an interesting play out. I know this note is really long, and I'm sorry about that. I'm not good at condensing (not that you really didn't know that already).

For being so wonderful and continuing to follow me, and maybe even taking the time to read this author's note, I will be updating this story at least once a month for now on. **AT LEAST**. I want to do more, but I'm not going to make any promises to you unless I can fulfill them. I'm not a review beggar, so if you don't want to review, don't; if you do, on the other hand, want me to know your thoughts so I can make this story more satisfying for you to read, you're more than free to drop me a PM or publish a review. I want you to enjoy yourselves. I want you to like the story and like the characters and the plot. If you have any ideas (no matter how ludicrous) send them to me. If I don't hear any feedback from my questions, I'm going to have to wing it on whatever I choose. (I'm not going to make you continue to wait for the next update; I'll just toss slips in a hat and draw, if it comes down to it)


	4. Dinner is Served

"Over," he said.

"But we just _moved_ it over."

"Over some more, then."

A grunt, and then three sweaty guys were hauling the giant beer barrel—that contained no beer, by the way—over three more inches.

"No, no, the _other_ over."

"Over the railing?" he asked, doubtfully. "I don't think Madam Ariel would like to sleep in a barrel 'a drift. Awful long swim back in the morning."

His companion grunted in agreement.

Captain Jack Sparrow rolled his eyes.

"No, I mean move other _there_—" he pointed to the spot, while the others stared—"by that brown speck on the floor."

"Which brown speck? The entire floors the same color."

"Isn't that where it was originally?"

This senseless batter went on for a few more minutes until the barrel was finally next to the speck. And in the same spot it was before it was moved.

Captain Jack Sparrow looked at Ariel, who was eying them from her spot on the plank.

"Madam, your barrel is finished," he motioned one of the men over. "What is for dinner?"

The guy gave him an odd look. "Fish, sir. The same as usual. The only thing we ever eat."

Captain Jack nodded.

"Ariel," he said, louder. She glanced over towards him; she had been eying one of the crewmen who had tattoos across his butt. She only saw them because he had crouched to use the poop deck.

"Ariel, what would you like for dinner? We have fish. And beer."

"What kind of fish?"

Jack Sparrow paused, before holding up one finger.

"One moment, please."

He turned towards the guy standing beside him.

"What kind of fish?"

The guy glanced at Captain Jack Sparrow, and then back at Ariel, wondering how he got mixed into this two-time relay conversation. He could just as soon answer her himself.

"I don't know, Captain," he said, slowly. "I don't work in the kitchen. But I think I saw Benji haul in some sort of yellow critter this morning. Said something about stoking it."

He nodded, and then looked back at Ariel.

"Yellow Fish."

"I'll have yellow fish, then," she squinted up at him. "What's beer?"

Jack Sparrow smiled at her. "A better question would be, what is beer not?"

As Jack Sparrow led her into the dining room, he began to explain all the different things beer was useful for – blowing up sea monsters, murder (the best way to drown a man is in beer), bathes, and amongst other things, his personal favorite – getting drunk.

"And it tastes like piss?"

Captain Sparrow nodded. "Yes," he said. "Best thing you'll ever drink."

Ariel couldn't keep the audible swallow from sounding.

But that wasn't what she had to worry about.

When they were all seated, and the cook came out with the food on silver trays, Ariel was excited about what could be under the trays.

The cook began bringing the nicer tray over to Captain Jack Sparrow, which she could only assume contained an even nicer meal, but was stopped by a small motioning of Jack Sparrow's hand towards Ariel, and a slight nod of his head and a flicker of eyes.

The cook moved to set the silver, shining tray don't in front of her.

"Your dinner is served," he said, lifting the tray.

The cook frowned when she didn't smile or give an appreciative look at the meal he had spent all day fixing. He immediately asked what was wrong. But she could only sob.

It was flounder. On a plate.

* * *

**Well, I brought Flounder back, per Ariel's request. And she can still keep him in that bucket, if she'd like. **


End file.
